Russell Investments Headquarters

RUSSELL INVESTMENTS HEADQUARTERS SEATTLE, WASHINGTON RUSSELL INVESTMENTS HEADQUARTERS Seattle, Washington WORKPLACE AS AN ASSET NBBJ worked with Russell Investments, a highly regarded asset management firm, to use their headquarters relocation to Seattle as a means for fundamentally changing the way they work. client VISION design BREAKTHROUGH organizational VALUE springboard INSIGHT Russell Investments was looking to create an energized NBBJ sought to better align Russell’s workplace solutions Large floor plates allow space for more than twice the number Knowledge work involves four key activities—learning, environment that would enable ideas to be exchanged with the changing nature of its work practices to add value of staff on each floor, creating greater synergies within and collaboration, socializing and focused work. Supporting these more quickly around the world. The process included the to the business. Building upon best practices and lessons across departments. The elimination of private offices makes activities with a range of work settings can help people come relocation of its headquarters and migration from a traditional learned from corporate offices around the globe, the space access and sight lines to people profound, resulting in faster together to develop new insights and solutions. office/cubicle standard to an open office/collaborative solves many of the core limitations associated with traditional team building and a stronger sense of community. work environment. open work environments. A SOUND INVESTMENT Public roof garden Public roof NBBJ began the engagement with Russell by providing site selection, feasibility studies and test fit services to help inform Russell’s real estate search. The opportunity to move to a city that attracts a highly educated workforce, occupy a Class A office building bearing its own name, and be in the center of a major Pacific Rim commercial center alongside other businesses Russell occupies were some of the determinants in making the move to Seattle’s floors 13-16 and 18 downtown core. NBBJ’s test-fit studies showed that the building’s large floor plates (44,000 RSF versus Seattle’s average Class A floor plate of 28,000 RSF) allowed Russell to begin driving their business goal of developing a synergistic work environment. RUSSELL INVESTMENTS CENTER “We are well-positioned to be an even stronger destination employer for the best and the brightest people in our industry. We can engage with our global client base more efficiently, collaborate with other like-minded organizations more effectively and offer our associates a truly unique work environment.” – RUSSELL EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP 14TH FLOOR Private offices have been eliminated, creating a more equal workplace dynamic where the leadership is as accessible as the associates. Conference rooms and small group collaboration zones are open to everyone. Views to the outside can be seen from the COLLABORATION ZONES center of the building. TRANSPARENT ZONES PRIVATE ZONES “conversatiON YIELDS INNOvatiON” Russell believes innovation is the product of conversation: dialogues between associates, clients, governments, regulators and the money managers they research around the globe. Russell is committed to creating a work environment where professional KEY BUSINESS OBJECTIVES development, consistent feedback and opportunities to grow 1. Increase speed to market. professionally are in play. To strengthen this culture of innovation 2. Facilitate new product and service and conversation, Russell identified key business objectives (at left), development for clients. which NBBJ used to map workplace solutions. 3. Enable teams to operate efficiently and Russell’s decision to relocate gave NBBJ an opportunity to adapt not be inhibited by a hierarchy that the new office to meet the needs of the financial services profession can slow delivery of results. while ensuring cost effectiveness through maximum use of the 4. Support a truly global, networked space. During the programming and discovery phase, NBBJ organization. developed a workspace strategy that aligned with Russell’s vision 5. Support a company culture that to better support the nature of their work, while also migrating their fosters energy, innovation, collaboration, culture to get to goals faster. transparency and mobility. The resulting design objectives were to promote collaborative working patterns, support organizational evolution and develop a seamless integration of technology and design. 35% The open plan design solution allowed for 35% less USF per employee after the move. NBBJ devised planning concepts to support many modes of The concepts and workplace strategies developed in work. The concepts move associates out of the enclosed office the Seattle headquarters have been rolled out as global ENERGY, MOBILITY space and cubicles of traditional asset management firms and workplace standards for Russell’s offices in Singapore, into an environment that equally supports communication and Sydney, San Francisco and New York. AND FOCUS concentration. In addition to activity-based work settings, “innovation hubs” fitted out with appropriate technology allow staff to change location based on the type of work. PATTERNS OF WORK BEHAVIOR NBBJ’S PLANNING CONCEPTS Research about knowledge work shows it 1 2 3 4 5 happens in four different modes of activity.* HORIZOntal OPEN PLAN ACTIVITY-BASED GATHERING INNOVATION AND vertiCAL FOR ALL WORK SETTINGS CENTERS HUBS MOVEMENT Focusing “Focusing” requires uninterrupted time to concentrate and attend to tasks such as thinking, studying, contemplating, strategizing and processing. This type of “heads- down” work is best performed in an individual’s own mental zone. Collaborating Collaborative activities require working with one or more people to achieve a goal. Collectively creating content or brainstorming ideas can leverage the group’s shared mind. Enables movement of associates The open plan space design increases Specific workspaces support specific While desks are often empty, research Each cluster of workstations is located across and between floors. communication and collaboration, and types of activity. In the new space, teams shows that in most companies, staff can’t near an “innovation hub,” which allows for a higher visibility of ideas can work in a range of settings based on find enough available meeting rooms.* includes privacy rooms, project team and work. task rather than status. rooms and informal collaboration Space for teams, projects, pitches or spaces. Multiple unreserved rooms support Associates can also work anywhere, war rooms is needed but often not the need for “focusing” work where untethered from fixed desks and available. NBBJ planned 50% more Spaces are all equipped with white Learning Knowledge is built, and learning acoustical and visual privacy is required. technology, with an ease of connecting. meeting and collaboration space in the board surfaces, wireless and A/V is accelerated and becomes an new Russell location than in typical office technology. environments. integrated part of organizational culture when thinking is made Unwired Ventures for Regus, 2008 visible to others. * Socializing When people socialize and work with others in both formal and informal ways, both learning and trust are built. Combining trust with an organization’s intellectual capital creates the necessary ingredients for innovation. *Source: Nonaka/Takeuchi, The Knowledge-Creating Company, 1995 OPEN FLOOR PLAN TRANSPARENCY The Russell Investment Center has large floor plates that Private offices have been eliminated, creating a workplace The open floor plan and clear glass conference rooms provide provided an opportunity to increase group adjacencies and dynamic where Russell’s executive leadership is just as everyone with significant access to daylight and greater create critical team mass. The move enabled the firm to accessible as the associates. The open plan design solution visibility within and across teams—increasing face-to-face increase from 80 to 100 employees per floor to 275 to 300 per places an emphasis on transparency that demarcates areas connections, which improve accountability and quicken the floor. Usable square feet per employee is significantly lower with glass partitions rather than solid walls. pace of collaboration and communication among associates. than the industry average for asset management and financial service firms. The new space affords from 260 usable square feet per employee to 170 square feet including amenities. COLLABOratiON ZONES PrivaCY ROOMS AND A variety of shared spaces enable interaction and TOUCHDOWN SPACES collaboration at every scale and level of privacy. Each Privacy rooms are located throughout the space, giving cluster of workstations is located near an “innovation associates a dedicated place for focused, intensive work or hub”—areas that include privacy rooms, project team for tasks that involve private conversations or confidential rooms and informal collaboration spaces—all equipped material. For visiting associates and guests, a variety of with whiteboard surfaces and state-of-the-art technology. touchdown spaces are available for use as temporary workstations. OUTDOOR AMENITIES Russell Investments Center features a one-of-a-kind 23,000 square foot outdoor deck overlooking Puget Sound. Taking advantage of the building’s large setbacks, the deck has expansive views from every direction, with WiFi and soft seating for all building tenants. A fiber optic network eliminated the need

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